On Marriage

Then Almitra spoke again and said, "And what of Marriage, master?"

And he answered saying:

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.

You shall be together when white wings of death scatter your days.

Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.

But let there be spaces in your togetherness,

And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

Love one another but make not a bond of love:

Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.

Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,

Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.

For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.

[Gibran]

At the sacrificial altar.
At the sacrificial altar.
I put down reverentially
Everything that you are.
Parallels.
I escape from you
Sacrificing myself
To get
What you cannot give-
A God
After the appearance of
All your belongings
That are familiar to me
And stop reaching out to me.
I want to be
Free from memories.
Whether it would work out or not
Is a totally different question.
Sometimes I think
I am a fool
But my thoughts never free
With my emotional needs.
Certain tender expressions of the mind
Are fragile.
Need taking care of.
I can’t throw them out of the window
Of my third storey apartment.
So I try not to resent
Doing what I do.

Weal or Woe
Ah, the bear of solitude.
To hell thy clutches sans gratitude
Once, thy embrace how did I Yearn
But only to remain the picture on the urn
While all the world sleeps
Ha! the burning candle of my heart
Lingering down the mountain sleeps
How do you puff and pant
When you creep down to ashes
The moon of me too diminishes
But this qarb of grace, the gift
With which you enveloped
Gives me the power
To remain ever.

[Nandhita]

I want you to know one thing. You know how this is: if I look at the crystal moon, at the red branch of the slow autumn at my window, if I touch near the fire the impalpable ash or the wrinkled body of the log, everything carries me to you, as if everything that exists, aromas, light, metals, were little boats that sail toward those isles of yours that wait for me. Well, now, if little by little you stop loving me I shall stop loving you little by little. If suddenly you forget me do not look for me, for I shall already have forgotten you. If you think it long and mad, the wind of banners that passes through my life, and you decide to leave me at the shore of the heart where I have roots, remember that on that day, at that hour, I shall lift my arms and my roots will set off to seek another land. But if each day, each hour, you feel that you are destined for me with implacable sweetness, if each day a flower climbs up to your lips to seek me, ah my love, ah my own, in me all that fire is repeated, in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten, my love feeds on your love, beloved, and as long as you live it will be in your arms without leaving mine [Neruda]

At sunset, on the river ban, Krishna
Loved her for the last time and left…
That night in her husband’s arms, Radha felt
So dead that he asked, What is wrong,
Do you mind my kisses, love? And she said,
No, not at all, but thought, What is
It to the corpse if the maggots nip?

[Madhavikutty]